| Strength in Numbers; Strong Post-GTP Starts; Big Day for Detroit January 27, 2025By David PhillipsIMSA Wire Service |
| DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – As seems to be the case every year now, it came down to the final hour of the Rolex 24 At Daytona – or the final 24 minutes of that hour – before the outcome was decided in all four classes of racing: Grand Touring Prototype (GTP), Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) and GTD. And in the end only the LMP2 winner enjoyed anything like a comfortable margin of victory over its closest pursuer. Sure, 14 full course yellows over the course of the race kept things close. But so evenly matched is the competition in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship that at least half a dozen cars (as well as the eventual winners) could have emerged victorious in the waning minutes of the race. What did we learn? Numbers Matter Roger Penske once observed “numbers matter at this place.” While speaking about a different series and a different place, that philosophy held true at the Rolex 24 as the final hour ticked down when Porsche Penske Motorsport (PPM) alone among the GTP teams had two cars left at the front of the field. As a result, they played a canny strategy during a late full course yellow to keep some potential competitors from regaining the lead lap. Specifically, by pitting the Penske Porsche 963 in second at the time and leaving the lead Penske Porsche on track, they prevented competitors from getting a “wave around” the pace car. “We really used our two-car approach to make sure one of the PPM cars was controlling the pace of the race and controlling our own destiny,” said PPM Managing Director Jonathan Diuguid, who also noted the two cars combined to lead 517 of 781 laps. “I think that put us in position to win and cover all the bases and attacks from the Acuras and the BMWs and the Cadillacs of the world.” Fast forward to the closing stages of the race when Tom Blomqvist in the No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06 fought it alone against the two Penske Porsches. Sure, there was a chance Porsche Penske’s Felipe Nasr and Matt Campbell could have tangled while jousting for first place. And their intramural battle did enable Blomqvist to close to within striking distance; indeed, he ultimately demoted Campbell to third place with a few laps remaining. But by that time Nasr had made his escape and came home 1.335 seconds clear of the Acura. Speaking of numbers mattering. The Vanthoor family enjoyed a rare, indeed possibly unprecedented, sweep of Rolex 24 glory with BMW M Team RLL’s Dries Vanthoor capturing the pole while older brother Laurens took home a coveted Rolex Daytona timepiece along with PMM stablemates Nasr and Nick Tandy. “You can see how many laps a Vanthoor led,” quipped the elder Vanthoor. “It’s special to see my younger brother up there… It’s quite unique and difficult to put into words, but I wouldn’t want to be in the skin of our dad or mom because I think they sweated a bit watching TV.” Meanwhile Tandy became the first driver to win sports car racing’s “Great 96,” aka the Rolex 24, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 24 Hours of Spa and the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring. “To get the big four 24-hour wins,” said Tandy, “one would be just an incredible career, so to get four and a few Sebrings and a few Petits (Le Mans) is dream come true stuff.” Life After GTP |
| No matter how well you understand that the competition in LMP2, GTD PRO and GTD classes is as fierce and professional as in the GTP class, to find yourself “out” of a GTP ride that has been yours for a few seasons can’t be easy. But a bevy of ex-GTP drivers proved there is indeed life after GTP in this year’s Rolex 24. Chief among them would be Sebastien Bourdais who teamed with John Farano, Sebastian Alvarez and Job Van Uitert to take the LMP2 win in the No. 8 Tower Motorsports ORECA, the first Rolex 24 win for the 2022 WeatherTech Championship LMP2 championship team. That win gives Bourdais, who found himself on the outside looking in for the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech Championship GTP season when Cadillac and Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) parted company (but who drives for Cadillac Hertz Team Jota’s Hypercar effort in the World Endurance Championship), the distinction of having won the Rolex 24 Hours in two different prototype classes as well as in the old GT Le Mans class when he drove the CGR Ford GT. Nor was Bourdais alone in showing there’s life after GTP. Dane Cameron, not retained by PPM after teaming with Nasr to win the 2024 Rolex 24 and the 2024 WeatherTech Championship GTP championship, was very much in the mix for the LMP2 win in the No. 99 AO Racing ORECA before a mechanical issue sidelined “Spike” in the final hour. Likewise, Connor De Phillippi was shifted to the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO after two seasons racing the BMW M Hybrid V8. Similar to Cameron, De Phillippi battled for a class win – in this case GTD PRO – before eventually coming home third. Motown Celebration |
| The 2025 Rolex 24 was a good race for Motown; a very good race for Motown. After all, Chevrolet and Ford aficionados, employees and executives alike came away with much to celebrate given that the No. 65 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3 captured the GTD PRO honors in the hands of Dennis Olsen, Frederic Vervisch and Christopher Mies while Matt Bell, Lars Kern, Marvin Kirchhoefer and Orey Fidani collected the GTD trophy in the No. 13 AWA Corvette Z06 GT3.R. There was plenty to celebrate in the Ford Multimatic camp given that this was the Mustang GT3’s first win in global competition after its troubled debut in last year’s Rolex 24. After a year’s worth of competition and development, not only did the Mustang run the 24 hours with nary a major mechanical issue, it also had the speed to take two of the three spots on the podium with the No. 64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3 finishing third. “We had to learn the hard way in the first race, which is one of the toughest races in the world, straightaway,” Mies said. “But there have been things in the background and also on the team side. I must say this is probably the biggest improvement compared to last year. It just feels like we made another good step in terms of preparation.” While Corvette Racing was denied a chance to vie for the GTD PRO win, AWA took home top honors in GTD. This gave Corvette a Rolex 24 trophy and also underlined the viability of the Corvette GT3 as a legitimate customer race car, not only a high-tech thoroughbred in need of factory support and expertise to function at a winning level. AWA’s best finish in 2024 was fifth place at Road America, so the first podium achieved with the car was a big one. “There were trials and tribulations in the first part of (last) season,” said Bell, “but from the very get-go the silver lining was the thing was awesome to drive. So we knew the fundamental thing that you need in racing is pace. “You need a car that you can go and win with, and if you’ve got a hardworking group of people around it, if there’s anything to fix, it’s going to get fixed. We knew from last year if we stayed on this train, there’s going to be success coming.” |
